No Place Like Home

ANY WEEKEND GUEST OF MINE has to be prepared to walk on the beach, go to yard sales, and visit a historic house or two. So on Saturday, when I said to my friend Marilyn Fish, “Oh, let’s just pop in to the Home Sweet Home Museum,” she was game. A few years back, Marilyn and I were editors-in-chief of sister publications, Style 1900 and Modernism. She now works at the Jason Jacques gallery of European art pottery, so she knows a thing or two about the decorative arts.

The house is a cedar-shingled saltbox built around 1720. Disconcertingly, it turns out that many of the furnishings within are High Victorian, and there’s an extensive collection of Lustreware.

Hugh King, above, East Hampton’s village historian, dispelled some of the myths about the house. Chief among them is that actor/playwright John Howard Payne, who wrote the treacly song “Home Sweet Home” in 1823 for his play “Clari, Maid of Milan,” which was produced first in London and then in Philadelphia, was born there. Although Payne’s parents lived in East Hampton for a time, it wasn’t in that house, and Payne was born in lower Manhattan in 1791.

The house came to be decorated in mid-19th century mode because the last private owners, Gustav and Hannah Buek, who were there from 1907-1927, collected the material as an homage to Payne, intending the house to look as it might have when he lived there (though he didn’t).

In 1928, the Village of East Hampton raised $60,000 to buy the place from the Bueks; it has been a museum since.

I was a bit disappointed to find the architecture (which I love) and the furnishings (which I don’t) so out of sync. My favorite aspect of the house is the high-gloss white painted paneling, above, which was added, King told us, around 1750. It made me wonder if some of the dark woodwork in, say, Park Slope, which people often feel duty-bound to keep, couldn’t benefit from a treatment like this.

Care of the Maidstone

LAST NIGHT, I MET A FRIEND at The Living Room, a new-this-year bar/lounge attached to the hotel known as c/o The Maidstone (and don’t you forget the c/o, whatever that’s about).

The big white house, on Main Street across from East Hampton’s picturesque pond and ancient cemetery, was a staid old dowager until it was bought by Jenny Ljungberg, a Swedish-born hotelier determined to freshen things up.

Now the bar and lobby have sky blue walls, furniture upholstered in Josef Frank’s cheery textiles, rag rugs scattered on pale wood floors, and candles burning even in daylight.

I started off with a Stockholmipolitan ($14 – ouch), a cosmo made with fresh lingonberries. Then, sitting at the bar, we shared three appetizers – mushroom ravioli in black truffle broth, an autumn salad, and Swedish pancakes with caviar and creme fraiche – with apple-cranberry crumble for dessert. All scrumptious.

The Living Room serves breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, and afternoon tea. Wednesdays from 5:30-8:30 is happy hour, with $5 Stockholmipolitans and complementary smorgasbord. Best of all, it’s going to stay open all winter. Oh, joy. Look for me there.

Intriguing Hamptons Houses <600K

PRIME HOUSE-HUNTING SEASON is almost upon us. With cold weather, the dilettantes and Sunday shoppers disappear. Most won’t think about country real estate again until April. Meanwhile, the serious players remain in the game, knowing that winter is the best time to look, find, and negotiate.

I combed the listings and turned up three properties I would check out, were I in the market right now with half a million to spend.

Click on the live links below for more pics and info on each property.

• This early 19th century house in Springs, above and below, is owned by a young couple in the landscaping business. They bought the house 6 years ago and renovated it, even jacking up the house so its old foundation of locust posts could be replaced with a modern steel one. 2 BR, 1 bath, 1,100 square feet, 1/2 acre, wood stove, separate studio, 595K.

• This cedar-shingled 1959 cottage in Noyack, near Sag Harbor, below, was featured in a recent issue of Ty Pennington at Home magazine (amazing that it’s still publishing!) 1,500 square feet, 3 BR, 1.5 baths, 1/2 acre, water view, mooring rights, 595K. Taxes: $3,739/year.

• Got farm animals? The 100-year-old Amagansett cottage, below, is on almost an acre and has been twice reduced. 1,000 square feet, 2 BR, 1 bath, wood stove, detached garage, 570K. Near the RR tracks, but there are only a couple of trains a day. Anyway, whaddya want for half a million plus? This is Amagansett! (Also only a mile from the ocean.) Taxes are $1,008/year – can’t beat that.